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Crowning Flash
Lightning Leader The island of Cheshire was a territory place under the protection of the Notch Pirates, but that was just about its only claim to fame. Before hand it had been a place of average means, the people weren't living lavish but they were comfortable in their day to day lives. Now they were impoverished, the struggle for control of their island draining what little wealth they had and leaving them destitute. And the worst part about this, Julia thought, was that the people hadn't even participated in the struggle for their island. The Notch had set their sights on the place for no other reason than to expand their territory, and some rival crew had come up to challenge them. The battle left more than a little collateral damage, and the island was so much worse off than it had been before either side had decided to set foot here. Julia's job as a member of the Notch's First Division was the restoration of such territories, which was why she was here now. She had pulled together a group of people from every part of the crew: dozens of doctors, chefs, carpenters and others of varying skills. She needed to get this place back into tip-top shape, not for her crew's sake but for the people. Her heart went out to them. Ellesmere wasn't the only town on the island, but it is the one Julia had personally set up shop in. She had delegated the restoration of the others to the various groups under her command. She made rounds through medical tents, now, giving second opinions on diagnoses and offering input on a patient's treatment "I have to remember to check on the food tents." She thought to herself contemplatively "The carpenters should be well enough on their own. I can't help much there anyway." "Doctor Faraday!" The shout drew Julia out of her musings, quickly turning in the direction of the voice and heading over to offer whatever assistance she could to her subordinate. Laszlo, one of the four acting captains of the Notch Pirates, was carrying several of the wounded townsfolk of Cheshire upon his back and in his arms. It was he who had requested backup, specifically he had requested a doctor to come to Cheshire to treat the wounded. The battles of Cheshire had been a long one, and even now, the Notch found themselves on the verge of being pushed out. Such was the strength of a Yonko Crew; the Xros Pirates, even with those who left to form the Notch, was still somehow immeasurable. Laszlo looked at Faraday, his tired eyes examining her carefully as she appeared before him. He sighed. “We got more fucking wounded here. I thought it’d be the best thing to bring em here, to you,” Laszlo sighed. “How the fuck you holding up anyway? You’ve been here almost as long as I have. Though, I guess I should say sorry for even asking them to send you here. This shit is a losing battle anyway.” Julia looked at the people Laszlo was carrying, vaguely registering the words he was saying as she took in their various states of injury and ailment "Trevor, Daniel, Moira." She called out, three attendants coming quickly to her side "Many of these people have simple wounds, easily treated. There's one who is showing signs of starvation and dehydration..." Julia pulled the girl in question from her superior's arms and moved her to the nearest empty cot, the two male attendees taking the rest from Laszlo as Moira stood by Julia's side. Julia examined the girl's eyes, teeth and fingernails quickly before turning to her subordinate "I can't say exactly how long she has been in this state, so we'll stick to a diet of liquids for now. You know how to set up an I.V.?" The woman nodded "Good. Give her one and try to get some food in her when she wakes." Julia moved from their side back to Laszlo, a weary smile on her face "This is apart of my job, sadly. Island restoration is my specialty, so I've gotten used to the long hours associated with it." She looked around the tent for a moment before turning back to the Epoch "But it's not yours. Thank you, Laszlo, your help is very much appreciated. No battle is truly lost until we stop fighting, after all." Laszlo nodded. “I agree with you there,” he replied as he walked over to a table in the corner of the room and grabbed a bottle of alcohol. He assumed it was probably used in emergencies to sterilize wounds, but if it was anything, he made sure to bring an excess of, it was alcohol. It was the only thing that calmed his mind, and the only thing that made it difficult for him to hear what he could. He popped it open, gorging down a fourth of the liquor before taking a seat on a chair nearby. “It’s only a matter of time before they give up on me though, Doc. It’s hard out there for them. They look me in my face, and they tell me they with me, but you know how my ears work Dr. Faraday. You, more than anyone else, know what the hell I’m cursed with. Shit, it was you who told me I should lay off the alcohol some, haha,” Laszlo snickered, before taking another sip. “I hear everything they say behind my back, and even the shit they just think. I maybe have another week or two before they lose morale completely and abandon us.” Julia followed behind him, her eyes sympathetic. He was her patient, so of course she cared for his well-being, but pirate crews often grew to be close as family as well. She took a seat next to him, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his shoulder "Leadership isn't easy. So many things fall on your shoulders, from responsibility to blame, and everyone below you looks to you to solve everything as though you have the power of a god." She spoke partly from experience, having to lead many restoration efforts in her time with the Notch "But we're all human. Or at least mortal." "I don't know if I can say something to mollify your fear, especially because you have a much deeper insight into other's hearts than I ever will, but I can say that I believe you are a great man destined for great things. Your circumstances at the moment are a trial, aiming to crush you underfoot. You can cave, or you can persevere and realize your purpose." She stood and smoothed her hand down the front of her doctor's coat "I've been told the latter is rapturous, so I would go for that." She gave him a kind smile, but it was quickly wiped from her face by an explosion. Several more followed, her head wiping around to try and discern the origin of the sounds. A young man rushed into the tent and up to them, visibly panting "Doctor! Captain! We're under attack. It's-" Loud screams and sounds of gunshots cut the male off "Xros." Julia finished for him, her face hardening to stone. She held out her hand to the side, purple electricity crackling from her fingers as a large blade flew through the air into her fingers. She turned to Laszlo "There are more civilians and civil servants here than soldiers. It'll be a slaughter. We have to save as many as we can." She turned on her heel without another word, expecting Laszlo to follow her out of the tent and into the fray. For a moment, Laszlo had found himself awestruck by Julia’s words; they were so reminiscent of Freyja’s own, and it was those words that prompted him to betray the Xros Pirates to follow her. However, when Julia conjured her blade and informed Laszlo of the situation, he was stripped from his dream back into what he could only see as a hellish reality. Still, he had a responsibility to his people, and to her. He had dragged them into this after all. He stood up from his chair, guzzling the last bit of alcohol down from the bottle and tossed it aside as he stepped onto the world. It was somehow worse than he could have imagined and judging from what he was hearing now, he didn’t think that was possible. There were hundreds of Xros pirates scurrying throughout the small village town, raiding the surroundings huts and decrepit stores in search for civilians to harm. It had seemed that instead of fighting with the Notch’s dwindling forces, they would come here to eliminate the only thing keeping them in the fight: their doctors, chefs, engineers, etc., It was a smart battle strategy, yet it was as ruthless and cruel as they came. The only thing that somehow made the situation worse was that the civilians here surely wouldn’t be all killed. No, this invasion force was led primarily by the Skylark Chip, a notorious slaver that was currently affiliated with the Xros. He was the primary reason that Laszlo refused to abandon this place, because he knew what would happen if Chip managed to get his hand on these people. In his time traveling the New World, he had come upon many slaves, and it was there voices that bothered him most of all. Oh, how desperately they yearned for a freedom that they knew would never come. It was a fate worse than death, and it was something Laszlo didn’t feel like listening to. The reason for saving them was entirely selfish, but to the people it probably didn’t make a difference. In fact, Laszlo knew it didn’t. He finally caught up to Julia. “This is Chip’s fucking invasion force. That dirty fucking bastard,” he informed casually, “My men won’t be able to get here and mobilize in time to defend them from this. It’s going to be up to us entirely. How do you want to split this up? I take half the village, you take the other half?” Julia had paused when she exited the tent, looking at the death all around them. They were killing people who could fight with impunity. She saw those she had helped heal not too long ago being cut down like animals or dragged off to devil knew where. She was dragged back through memories of children fighting with one another, killing each other just for a chance, the hope of a respite from the torturous practices those at the playground called tests. She had to remind herself that their crimes had been paid for with blood. The other subjects had made sure of it, as had she the first chance she got. It was in the past now, she wasn't there anymore she was here. Here... It was Laszlo's words that pulled her from the dark musings. She felt wetness at her cheeks and wiped them clean "Hm? Yes, that'd be optimal. The people are what's important. Only fight those you need to in order to save lives. We can't be sidetracked into altercations that may worsen their situation further..." She turned to him and gripped his arm, giving it a squeeze "And be careful. We need still need you." Julia left him then, heading towards the western side of the island. When she saw slavers, she drew her blade with a quick efficiency, cutting arteries with a pinpoint precision that many would be hard pressed to hone naturally. Many didn't even realized what had transpired until Julia had moved past them, their life's blood staining their clothes. Julia and her blade remained clean, however, her cuts too quick to leave any blood upon either. She helped civilians she came across and sent them to perceived safety. She didn't have time to administer full medical services, however, so she couldn't save those who were too greatly wounded to move on their own. For those who's prospects were slim, she brought them a quick end. All those who were neither near death or healthy enough to walk, she ordered to sit still, told them help would be on the way. When she came across her men, she ordered them to help the wounded and civilians, all the while covering their retreats. She felt her anger mounting and decided she had two missions now: save as many lives as possible and bring a bloody end to Skylark Chip. A Lightning Bolt Chip’s men ran rampant throughout the small, little village, pillaging and setting fire to whatever they could. They scurried around like impatient children, laughing jovially as they wreathed nothing but pure destruction. For the average person, it would have been sickening and horrifying to watch, but Chip was one of the few people in the world who most would agree was born twisted. As far back as he could remember, he enjoyed nothing more than tearing apart the hopes and dreams of whoever he could and ruling over others with an iron fist. But, if there was something more that Chip enjoyed, it was money. Right now, the Notch were fucking with his money. He found himself walking through what was perhaps a brothel at one point but had been converted into a kitchen of some sort that seemed to prepare the ration for the Notch forces. The Xros had assigned him this job weeks ago, and part of the Covenant Slavers' quotas were that they were never late on a deal. He had told the Xros he would have had this shit done with weeks ago, but that bastard Laszlo showed up and has done nothing but delay his plans. He didn’t have much time left before the deal was off and all of his hard work went to shit. So, he was a little desperate, and a lot angry. Gathered up along the wall were countless civilian men and women. Chip’s job was to examine this batch for his men to escort back to their camp to prep to be sold to some auctioneer in the Underworld, and right now, all he saw was shit. He looked at his men. “Where the fuck did you put all the pretty fucking bitches, huh? Who the fuck wants to buy these ugly whores, ey?” They looked around, blinking in what could only be confusion and nervousness. Chip sighed. “Bring one of em over ‘ere. I’ma try out the fuckin merchandise for me.” There was no hesitation between his demand, as his men picked out who they could only consider the best of the crop. As she approached, her body shaking and tears streaming down her face, only one thought came to Chip’s mind. “How old are you?” She didn’t give an immediate response. “You can’t fucking hear, bitch. I asked how old are you…” “S-S-Sixteen, sir!” Chip looked at the men who had escorted her to his vicinity and gave them a nod. They pushed her down onto her back, ripping apart her clothes until what remained was her naked flesh. “P-P” He slapped her in the back of the head. “Shut the fuck up when I’m not speaking to you.” Chip pointed to the rest of the civilians, still pressed against the wall on the opposite of the room. “Any of you fuckers move and I’ll kill ye. I only need to test one of ye; I can lie and say all the bitches are like this.” He paused. “What’s yer name, girl.” “C-Cathy..” “Cathy, I hope for yer sake your shit the best a man could ever have, cause if not this is going to take more than a few fucking minutes….” It was no more than ten minutes, perhaps nine at the most before Chip re zipped his pants. Cathy sat almost lifeless on the floor, her body twitching in what could only be interpreted as fear. Tears streamed down her face, but there was a silence to them; a broken hope. The other civilians on the walls looked in horror, but most simply elected to turn their faces away entirely. Chip snapped his fingers as he stood up off his knees. “Clean this shit up, and all this fucking blood. Put Cathy on my personal ship. That’s my fucking spoil of war. Shit was prime real-estate, plus she got really fucking pretty hair,” Chip directed. “The others one, put on some other ship and have them sent for auction.” Chip walked from the inside of the brothel, and into another building across the street, with a similar set up. This one was a restaurant, set up a similar way, but was probably used to clean bandages, weapons, and the clothes of Laszlo’s fighters. Yet again were civilians pressed up against a wall. Chip pointed at one of the civilians. "Ask er how old she is." "She's 14 sir..." Chip sighed. "Bring her to me." What seemed like a bolt of lightning lanced through the room at the man attempting to follow Chip's orders. It struck him square in the chest, not doing any visible damage but freezing him in place as every muscle in his body seized painfully "You murder." Julia's voice came from the door, the tall woman darkening the frame like a specter of death "You pillage." She stepped in this time, another lance of lightning leaving her form and speeding through the room. This time it struck one of the other men inside, leaping from his body to the next Xros lackey closest to him. It continued like this until all pirates other than Julia and Chip were frozen in place "You wreck havoc wherever you step." "But this..." Her voice shook then, barely contained rage and some other emotion vying to make themselves known. She stamped them down with the all the ruthlessness she wanted to end Chip's life with "Rape. The most deplorable crime a man can commit. Ending a life is heinous, but to take something so intimate from someone. To ruin someone, to break them in such a way. You're not a man, Skylark. You're a rabid dog." When she raise her head to level him with a look, her face was impassive, but her eyes were more emotive. They held pure, murderous intent. All for the man that stood before her "And rabid dogs need to be put down. Strike of Disgrace." In a flash, her hand was at the hilt of her blade and drawing it free. Within a fraction of a second she drew the weapon, struck out at Chip, aiming to open his throat from ear to ear, and sheathing her blade once more. Chip was surprised by Julia’s appearance. However, he wasn’t a pirate in the New World for nothing. He knew very well that this was a battlefield. Because of that, he knew that anyone could pop up at any time and attempt to take his life. What he didn’t know was how only a single person had done it. Who was this woman, and how powerful did she have to be to break through the perimeter of men that surrounded him. However, the moment that Julia had entered the room and struck him, he grew aware of his Kenbunshoku Haki. For a person with the ability to use Kenbunshoku, there was nothing greater than their opponent boiling with rage, because the angrier and more desperate they were the clearer things became. There was no doubt that Julia was quick, but Chip had seen it coming the moment she swiped her sword. Chip bent his face downwards slightly, catching the sword between his fang-like teeth as they came crashing down onto the steel of the sword. There was something unusual about the blade, judging from the fact that it didn’t break when he bit it, but he had no time to truly focus on that now. He swung his head backwards, seeking to throw the sword, and by extension Julia, through the wall of the building and back onto the streets which is where he, personally, liked to decide disputes. Rather than go along with her blade, Julia let it slip from her grasp. Before hilt of the weapon cleared her hand, jolts of electricity jumped between it and her fingers. The way Chip had flung Kikoku, it lodged blade tip first into the wall. Luckily it had just barely missed one of the hostages, who was prompted to run out of the building in that moment. The others followed, smartly, though Julia barely noticed their exit. "Haki. Hast to be...sensed my intent..." She didn't want to suppress the rage, it added to her focus. But with her emotions telegraphing her movements to his Kenbunshoku...unless she made a move he couldn't read. Her palms sparked with electricity in that moment, her hands being enveloped in sharp blade-like constructs "Biopsy Scalpel." She truck out with one hand in a wide arc, aimed once more at his throat, while her other jabbed at his midsection. Electricity was building around them steadily, like static felt before lightning struck. It was the formation of Julia's specialized field, sending signals to her brain and allowing for electrolocation within the bar. She was capable of perceiving the location and movements of all things within the field, meaning anything that moved would disrupt it and alert her. Chip allowed his Busoshoku Haki to envelop his being like a thick armor, charring his olive skin into a deep black the moment that Julia’s attack smote him. The electricity discharged through it, shielding his flesh from her assault and any other rider-effects that carried along with. Well, long enough for him to prepare his next attack. He stepped inwards, closing the short distance between him, while at the same time bringing his right fist alongside his hip. The air itself responded to the flex of his muscles, almost supernaturally in a way; almost as if it wasn’t the air itself, but something within it. Regardless, Chip’s right arm exploded forward, bringing with it a devastating shockwave that was aimed to tear down the wall of the building itself. Julia let herself be pushed back by the shockwave. She flipped backwards, landing feet first on the wall as it shattered, all but riding the section that fell out under her feet onto the street outside. There she stood among the bodies of the men Chip had ordered to bring the girl to the ship. All of them with their throats sliced open and painting the grown red. Julia outstretched her hand and made a "come hither" motion at Chip, electricity crackling along her fingers. However, it wasn't aimed at him. Her field of sensory still covered her blade, and she called to the magnetic charge she had placed on it. Kikoku pulled itself free from the wall and turned in the air, lancing through the air towards Julia. However, Chip was in between the two, and thanks to it's position it was primed to pierce his back, directly through his heart. Chip took no notice of her blade being pulled and merely took it as a taunt, until he heard the crackling in the air. He turned his body around, having believed that it was Julia who moved through the air. Instead, he was met by the sharp of her blade, catching it with his chest. The blade, as if it was a bullet, surged through his body and back into Julia’s hands. Though turning around was perhaps the dumbest thing he could have done, he realized it was what saved his life. Instead of traveling through his left side, it instead pummeled straight through the right side of his chest instead. Chip fell onto one knee, his breaths become more frequent and lighter. It was difficult for him to breathe, which made Chip even more certain that this bitch had punctured one of his lungs. He turned his head around, his eyes a bloodlust red. “Y-You Bitch!!” Chip flung his arm back, sending, yet again, had another interesting effect on the environment, creating another shockwave that spread outward from his body in all directions, seemingly using him as a center-point. As her sword returned to her, it performed a quick spin that wicked it clean of all blood and flesh that might of caught on it from piercing through Chip as it had. She caught it in her hands and stabbed it deep into the ground, anchoring herself as the shockwave swept past her. It flung rocks and debris, even bodies away from Chip but Julia was spared. Once it had passed she pulled her sword free and looked at the Fishman, her eyes examining the wound closely. She tilted her head and spoke in a clinical voice, a doctor through and through "A clean puncture through your body, a collapsed lung and several broken ribs. You're not going to survive without serious medical attention." "I'm not gonna let that happen. You're dying here. But I'm curious about something." She sheathed her sword and continued to look Chip over "How much you can withstand before you die. That would've killed any normal person, so you're obviously more sturdy than others. And I have been wanting to test something out..." Her eyes crackled with electricity, sparks flying off her body lazily "THEATER" The electricity that had surrounded them so thoroughly seemed to excite at her voice, the electrons responding to it quickly. A dome of sparks was formed around them, bars of lightning streaking up from the ground at the perimeter to a point at the top of the dome. The air within carried the feeling of a powerful electrical charge. It was several times more powerful that a little shock of static electricity, one would be able to feel the currents caressing their skin, notice shocks here and there. "I've never used this on anyone, my Angetsuryu. I was waiting to test it, but now is as good a time as any, no?" She moved her hand to the hilt of her blade, but that was it. Or so it appeared. The electricity in the air answered to some unseen call, collecting at a point near her and lancing out in a blade-like form. It sped towards Chip at blinding speeds, as lightning is want to do, aiming to sever his right arm just above the elbow. "Vivisection." Julia said it calmly, still like a doctor speaking of one medical subject, or more aptly a coroner during an autopsy. Chip attempted to harden his arm as quickly as he could using his Busoshoku Haki, yet, still, he simply wasn’t fast enough for the encounter. Still, the armor managed to absorb a duration of the blow, the amount necessary to tear his arm off completely, but he could feel his shoulder buckle under the pressure and collapse. His arm was broken completely, and probably fractured in places. He sat there, breathing heavily, gasping for air as his vision got blurry. Was it arrogance that he was taken down so easily? By a bitch of all things? He had fucked hundreds of women like her; yeah, it was arrogance, not strength. He looked up, his eyes still a deep, bloodshot read. He lifted up his other arm towards her. “Y-You stupid bitch!!” Chip shrieked, clenching his fist. Truth was, the shockwaves that he had released earlier were formed using his Fishman-Karate techniques, all intended to gather control of the water in the area. He hadn’t expected Julia to tank the shockwaves with her body, but why wouldn’t she if she had the strength? How was she to know that it was made by Fishman Karate? Still, Chip had wished he didn’t take all of this damage. Even if he could take her down here and now, there was no guarantee he could survive at this point. So, hell, he mind as well take her with him. As he clenched his fist, he attempted to command the water within Julia’s body, using the fact that the human body was over 70% water. He attempted to bend it, to cause her muscles to stiffen and to gain control over her motor functions, as if he was manipulating the blood that coursed through her veins. It was a dark, fishman karate technique that required an individual to set it up, and that had been just what Chip did. All of a sudden Julia couldn't move and she had to stop herself from panicking. She looked at Chip with wide eyes and knew it was coming from him some how, the way his fist was clenched and raised towards her. She took a quick inventory of her body, pushing aside her bloodlust for the moment to keep a more clinical mind. She noticed it then, the unnatural pressure upon her insides that was the tell tale sign of internal bleeding. "But he never touched me, how..." She hadn't been touched by anything but the shockwaves, though that left them as the only possible answer. She knew the risk of concussive damage if she was hit by one, but the force that they carried was so much more dangerous than that, obviously. She was too focused on killing to realize the dangers of fighting an enemy as underhanded as him. She didn't need to move to attack, not with the circumstances, but she couldn't let herself remain under Chip's thrall like this, it would surely lead to her death. She commanded the electricity around her again, but this time she extended her will out as well. She had little training in the use of Haki, but this would be enough. It had to be. As the lightning formed it turned black, two blades striking out at Chip this time, one aimed at the other arm and the second aimed at his throat to go for a killing blow. Chip wouldn’t fall for this trick a second time, stomping onto the ground itself. As the electrical bolts seemed to approach, they bent around chip entirely, surging into the earth around him. “You see that shit, you bitch!” Chip exclaimed, waving his around like some sort of puppeteer, using his power to shift the water within Julia’s body to pull and bend her limbs in grotesque, almost unnatural ways. “You use electricity huh? Well, I bent that shit around me, using the fucking water in the air to direct it. Seems that shit like the water way more than it likes the air!” Chip pulled his fist back rapidly, increasing the strength of his pull, turning her body around and putting her onto her knees. He stepped forward, gasping for air as he held onto his grip, unzipping his pants as he got closer. “If I’ma die right here, I’m gonna at least fuck your brains out you stupid, whore.” All at once Julia felt her anger flood out of her, replaced by a cold wave of pure fear. Her vision darkened and she was a child again, strapped to a table. She was being poked and prodded and probed and touched for reasons that were in no way academic or beneficial to whatever experiments they had subjected her to before. She was drowned in feelings of wanting to disappear, to melt into the floor, to die. "But you're not a little girl anymore, are you?" A voice spoke to her, a dark whisper right next to her ear "No, you're not little Bo-Peep, lost in that dark little playground. Tortured and broken. You're stronger now, powerful. Isn't that why you changed your name? To toss away your past?" A raven floated before her, a its head covered in a skull mask and its eyes glowing with electricity "You're Julia, the surgeon. The warrior. But now Julia isn't enough. You have to be more ruthless, more vicious. He's a monster so you have to draw on your own. Be Dahlia and set yourself free." Her vision snapped back to Chip suddenly, and she commanded the electricity around her again. She empowered the magnetic charge she had placed on her sword while applying a similar charge to the sheath. The effect was simple but powerful: Kikoku was sent rocketing from its position at her waist at Chip's stomach, carrying enough force to wind him if not knock him away from her. "Ugh!" Chip responded, watching as Kikoku went surging towards him. She still had this much fight left in her even after he had taken control of her body? What strength! There was no way he could let her live much longer. No, not this girl. She'd be a threat to their entire operation if he kept this up. "Never fucking mind!" Chip shrieked. He snapped his hand back towards him, commanding the very water in Julia's body to head in his direction, pulling her very body towards him into the path of her own blade that surged in the air like a projectile, intent on crashing into Julia's body herself. "JULIA!!" a voice called out from afar; Laszlo? "IT'S YOUR POWER ISN'T IT, JULIA?! DON'T LOSE!!!" Laszlo's words confounded her for a moment. Her power? Of course it was her power, its what she had been using to fight off this oaf the entire time what else would it be...But then an idea blossomed from those words. It was her power, and it was power. If she simultaneously flooded her body and the area around them with it... And so she did. She focused intently on commanding the electrons in the air and making her body obey. She drew in electricity as she produced her own naturally, her body becoming hypercharged but also highly disordered. Chip wouldn't be able to keep up with the shifts in the electrical currents fast enough to maintain his hold on the water in her body. She tugged on the charge she placed on Kikoku and the hilt met her hands within a second. The blade of the weapon blackened, the length of metal being coated in a layer of crackling black lightning "Cyberknife." She swung her blade up at Chip in a wide arc, all the while applying opposite magnetic charges to the blade and his throat, drawing her weapon towards her target even faster. “The Fuc—!!” Lightning Cutter Laszlo closed his eyes in that moment. He wasn’t someone who was sensitive to the affairs of pirates. Death was a natural process. However, he simply wasn’t drunk enough to tune out the voices; the screams and pure agony that Chip’s mind exuberated in his final moments…. It hurt. He nearly fell off the building as he gripped the side of his head. Still, he managed to compose himself slightly before falling off the edge of the roof, and instead gently jumped onto the ground outside of the restaurant that Julia and Chip had been fighting moments before. If he had fell, it’d be giving Julia something else to worry about at the moment. For now, he wanted her to focus on herself. Although Laszlo had arrived towards the end of the battle, the sight of her being tugged into the air was purely horrific. In all his years pirating and traveling, Laszlo hadn’t seen anyone use anything like that. Julia simply hung in the air like a marionette, her body bent and pulled in all kinds of directions. Laszlo would have credited it to some Devil Fruit that he just didn’t know, but he had seen Chip swimming around the coast just a day or two ago. Unless he had discovered some Devil Fruit on this dying, decimated island, there was no way that it was the works of a Devil Fruit; he largely believed it wasn’t. It had to be the works of something far more sinister, and that troubled Laszlo. Something that powerful existed in this ocean? He approached the door to the restaurant, but stopped as the horrifying smell of guts and innards slapped him across the face. He could only imagine what it smelt like closer. "Congrats Julia," he started, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "You did it. You took down one of the Covenant Slavers. H-How does it feel?" Julia looked down at his body for a long moment, the lightning around her blade slowly dissipating. Physical feeling started to bleed back into her body slowly as the adrenaline faded. Her limbs felt like they had been twisted and wrenched in directions they absolutely should not go. There was pressure on her insides, so she was definitely bleeding internally. As if confirming the diagnosis, a dribble of blood slid from her nose down to her lip lazily. "I feel...satisfied." She was only partially telling the truth. The part of her that had screamed for the slaver's head on a silver platter was sated by the blood she had spilled. But there was another part of her that was...forlorn. Numb. His death wouldn't bring back those his men had killed, it wouldn't fix all of those poor souls that he had broken throughout his years of these activities. She wiped her nose and turned to Laszlo, every inch of her body screaming in protest. She paid it no mind, now was not the time to take it easy "What about his lackeys? Did you chase them off?" Laszlo nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, I took care of them. They won’t be bothering anyone else. Though, I didn’t do them like you did Chip here. But, speaking of that,” Laszlo continued, pointing to Julia’s body. “You’re fucked up in their kid. I can hear that shit, every bit of it. Your muscles, that blood gushing around where it’s not supposed to be; you need to rest and let one of your nurses take care of you for a bit. For now, reinforce yourself with some Busoshoku until you can lay down. That should at least prevent you from fucking yourself up even more.” He looked down at Chip. "With this piece of shit dead, his men won't have no choice but to do a full retreat. This was the only guy that was smart enough to lead them here. This is a victory for sure, but the Xros are going to come at us harder, and we're going to need to be prepared." "No." Julia's voice held...something that even she hadn't heard before. It was a command, one that left no room for argument from Laszlo, despite the fact that he was her superior. Her eyes were determined when she looked at him. She was immovable on this front "I will not rest, I cannot rest until I know that all the survivors we can find are being taken care of." "I know how bad it is" She took his advice, lacing her insides with her Haki in order to keep everything at least in proximity of where it was supposed to be. The blood she cordoned off to areas were it wouldn't do any damage. Long lasting, at least "I'll make sure to get myself looked at. But the people come first. I vowed that the people will always come first." She gave Chip a contemptuous glance before moving past Laszlo "The Xros...the fucking Covenant Slavers...hell even the Notch! They're a cancer, Laszlo. Look at all of this!" She motioned to the bodies and destruction around her, even though many of the visible dead were slavers she had slain herself "We vowed to protect them. I swore to protect them as a doctor. But we failed...how could we fail so badly?" Laszlo paused. “Kid, you don’t understand. This,” he began to explain as he motioned to the very same bodies that Julia had, “is protecting them. Without us, every single man, woman and child would have wound either dead, enslaved, or both. This is how the world is kiddo. There isn’t one epoch in the Notch that doesn’t know that, but Freyja has left us tired, and strained. She’s recovering, and we’re what’s left to pick up the pieces. Hell, you did your best, and be damn sure your best is enough. But right now, you need to rest, because when these people really need you, you might not be around to help.” Laszlo turned towards the door and began to walk out. However, he stopped briefly at the doorframe. “You got to be able to help yourself first, before you can help others, Doc.” Julia threw a glance at Laszlo "If this is what you think passes as protecting, then everyone under the flag of the Notch is doomed indeed." She turned away and walked in silence for a long time, not really paying attention to whether or not Laszlo was following. She picked her way through the ruins of the town back towards the area where she had set up her base of operations. "And you know what," Fire was back in her eyes when she looked at Laszlo, a determination that burned deep "I fucking refuse to accept that. That is such a cop out! 'This is how the world is'." She scoffed and turned away, walked a few feet, then turned back to him "It is our...our obligation to fight for a better world, not just resign ourselves to the one we were born in! We should be making things better, not leaving all of our territories destroyed and desolated." "And before you say anything, yes it is damn near all of our territories. Our power has waned too much since Freyja...since she...she ABANDONED us!" A spark of electricity flew from around Julia and struck a tree, leaving a scorched hole in the spot. She looked at it with a flicker of regret but then turned back to the man "That is the only way to describe what she did. She left us without a leader and expected us to work all this shit out on our own and look what's happened..." She turned and continued walking, and though she didn't stop talking she didn't look at Laszlo "When I joined this crew...Gerhard promised me I could help people. I could get stronger and I could protect those who needed protecting, save those who needed saving. But now..." The base came into sight, tents bodies littering the ground, tents filled with those who needed more medical attention than any of her living personnel could administer at the moment. "Now, I don't want any part in the 'salvation' the Notch is selling. And I think..." She grit her teeth "No. I know I need to tell them that to their faces. Just like I've told you." Laszlo shook his head in disagreement. “Doc, I understand your frustration, but there’s no way we can gather all four of the Epochs in the same place for a meeting right now,” he explained calmly, taking a seat in the same chair as before. He picked up another bottle of alcohol and opened it. “We’re way too scattered. This same thing we are doing here, is happening everywhere Doc. Literally, everywhere. You’re sitting here, yelling us, like its our faults. Like, we’re not trying. But, damn, Doc. We’re outmatched. We’ve always been outmatched. Freyja couldn’t even beat Hecate 1 v 1, that damn Warlord. How can we expect to defeat the Xros, eh?” Laszlo gulped down a quarter of the bottle in a single go and burped. “Take some time to clear your head. Your thoughts are running rampant in there doc.” Julia had words for Laszlo, but also people to tend to. She ignored him for a long time in favor of organizing her people. She set groups of her remaining medical personnel to treating all of those who needed immediate medical attention, while others were ushered to ships and sent out to safer lands. And, with a heavy heart, she set men and women to collecting the bodies of the dead. For those who were innocent, she was going to build an honorary pyre. Only the cold darkness of the sea waited for the bodies of invaders. Once she was finished with her work, she sank into a chair facing Laszlo as a nurse set about treating her. The look she gave him was considerably calmer, but had lost none of its intensity. If her eyes held an inferno before, they now showed a towering tsunami "It is, Laszlo. It is our fault. When Freyja offered people sanctuary, when she set off on her grand venture to become a big name on these seas, she took upon herself all the blame that comes with failure." The nurse whispered something urgent to Julia and she nodded. The woman brought over tools and sterilizing agents while at Julia's prompting another nurse appeared with a bag of blood and a standing pole. The woman set about cleaning herself and Julia's flesh as the doctor exposed a patch of flesh at her side, the other nurse attaching Julia to the blood bag with an I.V. The nurse brandished a scalpel and made a small incision at Julia's side, pulling up a metal bowl to catch the blood that began to flow free from the wound. "Internal bleeding can damage organs" She told Laszlo by way of explanation, to assuage any worries "It's stopped but I need to be....drained, so to speak. It won't take long." Within a couple of minutes, the blood flow slowed to a trickle and the nurse pulled the bowl away. She stitched up the wound and the male switched out the blood bag with a fresh one, both leaving their betters to their conversation. "And when you all decided to back her, to lead her troops in her name, you shouldered the same responsibility. Trying means little when your failure means hundreds upon thousands of deaths, Laszlo!" She was building up to something, she just didn't know how to phrase it "And I understand that I am to blame as well. But I want to do better. I have to do better." "Freyja is gone, we are without someone to lead...so I wish to do so. With my own crew, so I can build a foundation of something better from the ground up..." She sighed heavily and sat back into her chair, her gaze fixed on a point by Laszlo's feet rather than at the man himself "I suppose I'm asking if you would stand by me? You have experience and...you're one of my closest friends. Being in a crew without you is unthinkable at this point." Laszlo shook his head in disagreement and frustration as he lifted his drunkard head, Julia. His eyes were closed as her violently rose. “Look Doc! You don’—” In the moment that his eyes opened, a bright light revealing Freyja manifested within Laszlo’s minds eyes and simmered into the chocolate form that Julia was. He was not only reminded of Freyja’s actions, but of her words from a time long ago; a time that she had forsaken. Yet, Julia, even as the Notch stared into the darkness, here she was attempting to lead them again. Not for their sake, but for the sake of a better world. Wasn’t this the vision that Laszlo swore his fealty too? “Well,” Freyja’s voice radiated, “Wasn’t it?” Laszlo stood up from his chair randomly, causing the chair to fall back. He inhaled and exhaled deeply; his eyes were still homed in on Julia who awaited his answer. Was it worth it? Was it worth risking it all for that bygone dream? A dream that he wasn’t even sure could exist anymore? Especially…. “Well, wasn’t it….” Laszlo dropped his bottle, breaking it against the floor. He gulped. “Y-Yeah,” he started. “I-I’ll help you.” Julia had to admit, she felt elated that he accepted. It really could've gone either way, as Laszlo was a fiercely loyal ally. She rose and wrapped him in a tight hug for a moment before pulling back "Thank you, Laszlo. Your support means more than you could ever know." She took a moment just to look at him, feeling a strange flicker in her chest as she did so. She cleared her throat and brushed the feeling aside, turning away from him "We'll finish up here, get as many of the injured off island as we can. Not everyone will want to leave their homes so everyone who is healthy enough will stay." She chewed her lip in thought "For the time being I'll order the combatants I can from be division to watch over the island, if only so they can notify me if any Xros return." Julia looked at Laszlo over her shoulder "And once that's done with, we head back to home base...and we summon the Epochs. No matter how long it takes for them to hear me, I will sit them down and we will have a nice long chat." With that she left out of the tent to attend to those who needed her, leaving Laszlo to drink and look forward to what would come next. Category:Role-Plays Category:Finished Role-Plays